Calmer Talk From U.S. and Russia

By JUDY DEMPSEY

Published: June 7, 2007

Russia and the United States on Wednesday appeared to step back from their confrontation over American plans for installations in Europe relating to a missile shield, as President Bush said Russia was not a threat to Europe and the Russian foreign minister withdrew a threat to pull out of a conventional arms treaty.

The conciliatory remarks came as leaders of the Group of 8 industrialized nations gathered for a meeting that was at risk of being overshadowed by the threat by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to aim Russian missiles at nuclear sites in Europe if the United States places the installations in Poland and the Czech Republic.

''Russia is not going to attack Europe,'' Mr. Bush said Wednesday. ''As I said yesterday, Russia is not an enemy. There needs to be no military response because we are not at war with Russia.''

Speaking in Prague before traveling to the meeting here in Heiligendamm, Mr. Bush said the shield was a ''purely defensive measure.''

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain called Wednesday for a more constructive relationship with Russia after months of threats by Russian officials to withdraw from arms control treaties and the Kremlin's recent test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile that its officials said could pierce any defense system, including the planned American shield.

Last month, Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, called an emergency conference for next week in Vienna to discuss the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe after Mr. Putin announced that Russia would freeze its commitments under the pact.

But Mr. Lavrov, who has consistently taken a tough stance over the American plans, said Wednesday that Russia was not planning to withdraw from the treaty. ''The issue will not be raised,'' he said. His comments were reported by the Itar-Tass news agency, which reflects Russian government policy.

Signed in 1990 by Western countries and members of the Warsaw Pact, the treaty set goals for reducing and limiting the number of battle tanks, heavy artillery, combat aircraft and attack helicopters deployed and stored in countries stretching across Europe to the Ural Mountains in Russia.

The treaty was updated in 1999 to take into account the breakup of the Soviet Union so that it could be applied to places like Georgia and Moldova, where Russia still had considerable forces and equipment.